Conditions that influence the elimination of postural constraints after office employees working with VDU have...

The goal of this article is to better understand how preventive measures are undertaken after training. It examines how certain variables, such as musculoskeletal pain, participant age and workstation and work content characteristics influence the reduction of postural constraints after office employees working with a computer have received ergonomics training.

A pre-test/post-test design was used. The 207 female office workers were given 6 hours of ergonomics training. The variables were determined using a self-administered questionnaire and an observation grid filled out 2 weeks before and 6 months after the training session. The FAC and HAC were used in the data processing.

The presence or absence of musculoskeletal pain had no statistically significant influence on whether or not postural constraints were eliminated. The age of the participants and the possibility of adjusting the workstation characteristics and work content produced differentiated results with regard to postural constraint reduction. We concluded that trained people succeed in taking relevant and effective measures to reduce the postural constraints found in VDUs. However other measures than work station adjustments lead to this prevention and such training must be strongly supported by the various hierarchical levels of an enterprise or an institution.